1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to broadcasting packets in a network, and in particular, to broadcasting multiple packets at periodic intervals for receipt by other devices.
2. Background Information
Bluetooth™ Low Energy (BLE) devices are designed to broadcast packets that advertise the presence of a BLE enabled device and these advertising packets are transmitted at a periodic interval, such that other BLE devices scanning for the broadcast packets will receive the packets when within range of the transmitting BLE device. In a BLE transmission, RF channels are dedicated for advertising functions that allow the discovery of the transmitting device by other scanning devices (e.g., mobile devices) as they enter the vicinity of the transmitting device. Once a BLE enabled device is discovered and connection is initiated, regular data channels may be used for communication. Two modes of operation in BLE enabled devices exist-advertising mode and scanning mode. In advertising mode, the transmitting BLE enabled device periodically transmits advertising information and may respond with more information upon request from other scanning BLE enabled devices. The scanning BLE enabled device, on the other hand, listens for advertising information transmitted by the transmitting BLE enabled devices, and may request additional information. A BLE enabled device that is transmitting in such a way is referred to as a “beacon.”
In a typical implementation, the broadcasted advertising packet data (i.e., the beacon advertisement) will have associated user data, which user data may be associated with a specific content or an application. For example, a store may place a beacon near the store entrance. With BLE enabled mobile devices, the store could provide customers with a mobile device application to monitor for and allow receipt of a beacon's broadcast. In this case, when a user (e.g., customer) having a BLE enabled mobile device nears the entrance of the store, the customer would receive an advertising packet including the store's user data. The received user data could be accessed by the application to provide the customer with content that could be acted upon in real-time (i.e., a “proximity” service). In essence, the beacon's advertisement data acts as a “code” (see, FIG. 3) so that other receiving BLE enable devices can recognize the beacon's transmission. The receiving BLE enabled device may then, for example, provide the “code” to other applications.